Dec 8th Briefing: Fixing State Grants

MACC and MCN Co-Host Briefing on Contract Reform

Minnesota’s human services nonprofits are public infrastructure. Through state grant contracts, they house families, feed neighbors, train workers, and support Minnesotans through every stage of life. But the contracts that fund this work often stand in our organizations’ way: late payments, reimbursement-only structures, shifting reporting demands, and administrative costs that go unfunded.

On December 8, MACC and the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits (MCN) are co-hosting a free virtual briefing on where grant contract reform stands, and how nonprofits can shape what comes next in the 2027 legislative session.

About the Briefing

Why It Matters

When state contracts work, Minnesotans get the services they need and the state gets more from every dollar. When they don’t, nonprofits end up fronting the state’s costs, and small, community-rooted organizations feel it first. The 2027 session is a chance to fix that, and lawmakers need to hear directly from the people doing the work.

Register for the December 8 briefing and share the invitation with your colleagues. Questions? Contact info@macc-mn.org.

Setting the Record Straight

Nonprofits share the goal of accountability for public dollars. But recent high-profile fraud cases have painted all state funding as a risk of fraud and lacking proper oversight. We know this couldn’t be further from the truth- for well over a decade, MACC members have been buried in expensive and burdensome administrative requirements. With the news cycle and political narratives at play- state agencies have recently ratcheted up the pressure on nonprofits and have exerted broader power to withhold payment and collect heavier documentation for grantees who have nothing to do with fraud. The result is an unsustainable growth in the amount of paperwork, wasted time and money, staff burnout, and slower payments- all without better protection against real risk.

We support accountability. We’re asking for policies that target actual risk.

What You’ll Hear

• Where things stand: progress from last session, on both defense and offense
• Correcting the record: how we’ve pushed back on the fraud narrative and overreaching compliance policy, and what’s coming in 2027
• Your experience: the challenges you face with state grants, shared live during the session. Bring an example from your own work. Real stories are among the most powerful tools we have at the Capitol.
• What’s next: reform proposals in development for 2027
• How to get involved: connecting with your legislators, sharing your story, and joining us at Nonprofit Day on the Hill

MACC at the Table

The briefing will be led by Trisha Reinwald, Vice President of Member Advancement at MACC, and Marie Ellis, Senior Advisor for Policy and Impact at MCN, who co-chairs the National Council of Nonprofits’ Grants & Contracts Cohort.

The event grows out of MACC’s leadership in the Grant Reform Coalition, alongside MCN, MCF, Propel, WorkWell, United Way, and other partners. MACC is the only coalition voice speaking for human services as a whole sector, and we bring the on-the-ground experience of more than 60 community-based member organizations into policy conversations. Over the past year, that work helped secure regular meetings with legislative leaders on grantmaking reform, a standing quarterly meeting with the Office of Grants Management, and a new law requiring a standard summary cover sheet for competitive state grant RFPs.